The Met Office has named where snow will fall in hours as warm weather makes way for colder conditions.

The weather forecast for today and tomorrow (March 5 and 6) read: "Rain, with hill snow in the north, continuing southeastwards across the north and west of England and Wales. Dry with low cloud to the southeast. Clearer with frost further northwest."

"After some early brightness in the east, rain will move slowly southeastwards across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some showery rain developing across west Wales and the west of England. Elsewhere, early mist clearing to a very mild, mostly sunny day," the Met Office forecast also read.

This follows a series of forecast suggesting unpredictable weather, including one expalining the UK could welcome the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures expected to reach up to 19C today, Thursday, March 5. According to the Met Office, above-average temperatures for the time of year are expected across the nation, with maximum temperatures reaching 18C to 19C, and 16C to 17C more widely.

The warm spell, however, is likely to make way to cold snaps soon, according to the latest forecast.

Honor Criswick, Met Office meteorologist, said of Thursday: "We have got a band of cloud and rain, this could be heavy at times, in western areas, it’s going to move its way eastwards. To the east of that, it should be mostly fine. There should be lots of long sunny periods until that rain starts pushing into the east.”

This could pave the way to a more intense cold snap towards mid-March where the UK could be hit by up to 7 inches of snow, as weather maps indicate a potential Arctic blast sweeping across parts of the country. Maps generated by WXCharts suggest cold air could plunge southwards across northern Europe in mid-March, bringing the risk of snowfall.

The most affected areas could be Scotland and northern England, which could see the heaviest accumulations if the weather develops as currently projected. If colder air does take hold, parts of the country could see a return to winter-like conditions, despite the approach of spring.

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